Use of public transportation keeps you fit and protects you from accidents

From Huffpo, commenting on a new report from the American Public Transportation Association:

Use of public transit simply means that you walk more which increases fitness levels and leads to healthier citizens. More importantly, increasing use of public transit may be the most effective traffic safety counter measure a community can employ,” noted APTA president William Millar. Apparently communities with vast public transportation networks don’t just live longer because of the exercise — they’re also less likely to be the victim of a fatal auto accident. The traffic fatality rate in the Bronx, New York is four in 100,000 contrasted by the traffic fatality rate in auto ridden Miami, Kansas which is 40 in 100,000.

Using public transportation also saves you a lot of money: "Riding public transportation saves individuals, on average, $9,381 annually and $782 per month based on the August 10, 2010 average national gas price ($2.78 per gallon- reported by AAA) and the national unreserved monthly parking rate." It is also important to note that when you pay $35 to fill your tank with gasoline, you haven't actually paid for most of the costs of using gasoline.

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Alzheimer’s Fears

Today would be the anniversary of my mother's birthday, but she's been dead for some time now. Alzheimer's killed her. She lost the ability to swallow, so she couldn't eat or drink. Since she had left an advance health care directive that no feeding tubes would be used, essentially she starved to death. She was only 66. Mom was diagnosed with the disease when she was 52. She'd been having troubles for a good while before that, so hers was a very early onset. You lose people twice when they have Alzheimer's: once when their mind goes and they are no longer themselves, and then when the body finally dies. Early onset Alzheimer's may be genetic, and even dominant, according to a number of studies, such as this one. There are lots more studies, but many are very technical and not worthwhile to link here. Essentially, some forms of early Alzheimer's are inherited about 25% of the time. So my siblings and I have a big shadow lurking: which one of the four of us will be the one that develops the disease?

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